I honestly wasn't sure I was ever going to run another marathon after finishing the last one. Despite the amazing runner's high afterward and the incredible feeling of accomplishment for completing a 26.2 mile run...my knees were remarkably sore after the race. Even my lungs were sore. My muscles recovered pretty well but my joints were swollen and angry for a while. I'm sure some people get right back on the horse, but I took about 2 months off from running. I just had zero desire to run for a long time.
Eventually, I looked around at races and decided that I needed to give my knees a break...which meant that I could still train for races, but probably shouldn't do a lot of hills again. Not to mention the extreme slant in most of the road for the Big Sur marathon which put a lot of pressure on one leg or the other.
In the end, I found a pretty flat race that has a small attendance (also important for me), and a lot of places where people can cheer for you. Big Sur was beautiful and at different points it was so quiet you could just hear the ocean and the footsteps and breathing of those around you. While amazing, that can also be a very lonely experience, particularly when it's getting late in the race and you could really use some encouragement. I suppose you really just need yourself to be motivated (in theory) but I don't think I'd mind some additional voices once in a while, haha.
Anyway...I'm a month into training for my second marathon already. It seems kind of wild but it has all come back very easily. It seems much more organized this time around. I know what to expect and just get home and run. There are good runs and bad runs and none of it really surprises me anymore. It's been an interesting balance between work, taking classes, as well as training for a marathon...but I think I've finally got a good schedule where I can actually still have a life on top of everything else (shocking!)
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